musing

Should we call it the Artisinal Trap?

Today’s New York Times has an article about artisinal ice cream. There’s that word again. The story focuses on the price of high-end (as in expensive) ice cream.

Read both pages, and not only because I guarantee Taos Cow makes great ice cream. Think about it in terms of our previous discussion.

In case you are on the fence about taking the time, a few excerpts:

  • “Since when is ice cream so expensive?” asked one mother.
  • Stefano Grom serves what may be America’s most expensive ice cream cone: $5.25, with tax, for a “small,” which works out to about $150 a pound.
  • Dairy technology has advanced to a point that consumers often can’t tell the difference. Expensive ice cream is often described as “artisanal” or “housemade,” but neither term has a meaningful definition as relates to ice cream. An “artisanal” gelato shop might only be adding water to a dry mix somewhere on the premises.

    • If you hang out here much you know I think many beers that can fairly called artisinal are underpriced. That doesn’t mean I can’t be offended when a marketer describes a product as “artisinal” just so a company can charge more.

    Found, a cowboy bar (The Mint, Sheridan, Wyoming)

    The Mint Bar in Sheridan, Wyoming, is as impressive inside as the cowboy neon out front. Although not as expansive as The Million Dollar Cowboy Bar across the state in Jackson and certainly not fancy, it holds its own on a per capita basis.

    It is not exactly classic wild west, but with your leather cowboy boots and all, this place looks like it fast.

    The place was hopping Monday evening. People come here to drink — there is no food — to talk, and many to smoke. The wall across from the bar is covered with complimentary clippings and the booths in the back are exceptional (see below).

    We knew about this place before we reached Sheridan, so this wasn’t exactly a lucky discovery. Nonetheless it surpassed expectations, including the beer — eight taps, two of them serving Alaskan Amber and New Belgium Fat Tire.

    A few links while we search for cowboy bars

    Million Dollar Cowboy BarWe’re headed north in the morning (attention burglars: somebody will be watching our house), eventually to Montana and Wyoming because my brother’s son is getting married in a week.

    While we’re off looking for cowboy neon signs hanging on old bars (maybe even old saloons) here are a few links I’ve been meaning to pass along. (The photo on the left is was taken in front of The Million Dollar Cowboy Bar in Jackson, Wyoming. A place your really should visit before dropping by Snake River Brewing for excellent beer.)

  • If you can’t trust your own taste buds whose can you trust?
  • More from our trip to New Orleans and NOLA Brewing’s 7th Street Wheat, another beer that illustrates “American Wheat” should not be called a style.
  • I stuck thoughts about “cloning” Westmalle Tripel at Brew Like a Monk, but if you are curious why it tastes like it does . . .
  • Probably should have anticipated something silly like this. Seamus Campbell writes “I have learned that the August issue of Reader’s Digest borrows from our results to construct a list of ‘The Twelve Best American Beers’ — the dozen beers listed all being 9-point scorers in The Beer Trials.” And then notes why this might not be so good. “The best-scoring beers in the book are, of course, merely the best-scoring of the beers we tasted. And make no mistake, there are a lot of beers we didn’t taste.”
  • British economists say real ale drinkers offer “economic inspiration.” Don’t be put off that the report begins, “It’s not often beer drinkers are role models.”
  • I have resisted writing (and pretty much reading) about all that surrounds BrewDog’s latest. But “BrewDog’s Next Beer: Ahab’s Undoing” had me at “implanted into the abdomen of a live sperm whale.”
  • As I type this, a thread at Beer Advocate titled “Professional Brewers discuss BA and RB” has elicited 148 replies. Perhaps time for them to consider NEW BEER RULE #8: Always take beer more seriously than yourself.

    • So when did the meaning of artisanal change?

    The headline across the bottom of Details magazine caught my eye today at Borders.

    “Artisanal America: How Handmade and Homegrown Became the New Consumer Religion.” The story itself is even online. Sure enough, the cute timeline that runs above the story has a picture of beers from Anchor Brewing and a note that in 1965 the brewery helped “kickoff the microbrew craze.”

    (See, not everybody uses the term craft beer.)

    What’s troubling, and a reminder why I’m not part of Details’ target audience, is that most of the items mentioned in the story turn out to be expensive. (It’s hard to continue reading after the reporter asks this question: “Does the phrase ‘Horween Tracker bone suede upper’ mean anything to you?”)

    This story equates artisanal with luxury and exclusivity. Which is not the way to build a better beer culture.

    Innocent nose and palate

    Drinking note of the day (not really a new feature, so don’t expect one tomorrow):

    From The Gourmet Guide to Beer by Howard Hillman (1983).

    Hamm’s (U.S.A.) 2 mugs (out of five)

    “Born in the land of sky blues waters,” says the motto. Pale yellow color. Innocent nose and palate.

    How’s that for concise?